Arctic Fur and Stressed Bunnies
by LadyLombax
Summary: Yet another JackRabbit oneshot by moi. Jack makes friends with the Arctic wildlife and Bunny learns that Jack has picked up on a few things about rabbits over the year.


**So, The power went out at my place last night and I had this and the next chapter of _Jack and His Baby_ all nicely written up. Guess which doc. didn't make the sudden power failure to my laptop. I hope this can tide you over until the other chapter. **

* * *

Jack was flying as far north in Greenland as he could without going into the Arctic. He was giving a new layer to the already thick snow on the ground when he noticed movement on the ground. It was quick and brief; could have been a trick of the light if Jack had not seen such movements before over his three hundred years of life. He smiled to himself. Maybe he could take a break.

Floating down and alighting upon a bare tree next to the clearing, Jack beamed as the animal in the clearing noticed him.

It was common knowledge among The Immortals that all animals could see spirits. What wasn't widely known to most spirits was that animals were drawn to Nature Spirits that had the most control over their habitat. For example, desert creatures such as snakes and coyotes were drawn to Sand Spirits and Summer Spirits. Fish of all species were unafraid of the Ocean Spirits around them and sharks became docile under their touch. In Japan, foxes often followed Spring Spirits around while in Europe, horses trailed after the Spirits of Autumn.

While Jack may have been born from the Man in the Moon, he was still a part of Mother Nature's authority and no different than the other Nature Spirits. Arctic animals and their southern cousins were drawn to Jack and often kept him company in his three hundred years of loneliness. Most Winter Spirits chased off the animals or ignored them due to their preference for solitude but, Jack would pet them, help them find food and shelter and often take naps with them. They were his constant companions and often prevented him from doing something desperate.

Jack shook off the dark thoughts that were about to follow and dropped to the ground. He sat on the ground and leant against the tree as the animal bounded over to him. While Arctic Foxes and Wolves were great to play with and Penguins were nice to watch, Jack's absolute favourite animal was the Arctic Hare.

Their sleek white coats often soothed his frazzled nerves and they often just sat there next to him as he screamed his frustration at the loneliness, the accompanying blizzard not affecting them the slightest. For such nervous creatures, Jack never managed to scare them. On the rare occasions he met them in large groups, he was often smothered by the fluffy creatures as if to say '_forget about your troubles. We are here for you. We will always be here for you'._ It was during those times he slept best, surrounded by a dozen furry bodies. More than once he had awoken to an Arctic Hare sitting comfortably on his belly, keeping watch over him or to a large lump in his hoody's pocket where his fluffy friend had decided to take a nap.

Jack was even trusted by the new mothers. They would sit with their young next to Jack and guard him as if he was one of their own. He often felt touched by the display as well as by the grooming. If Jack hadn't bathed in a while, his hair was subjected to grooming and a nip to the ear was given in scolding. The young leverets often involved him their games and treated him as a litter mate.

Yes, if Jack had to pick, the Arctic Hare was definitely his favourite. He was just grateful the other Guardians didn't know just yet. He wasn't sure if he could take their guilty looks when they realised Jack's only constant companions for three hundred years had been Arctic Hares and other such animals. A year and a half after that terrible Easter, the Guardians had become closer than ever. While this was good in many ways, Jack hated how they cringed at any reference of Jack's three hundred years of loneliness.

A lick to his nose brought him out of his contemplation. In front of him, on his hind legs, was a young Arctic Hare buck. He was about 2 ½ foot tall and had the typical black markings on the tip of his ears. His winter coat was thick and fluffy as Jack gently petted the side of him. The Hare sniffed Jack's face and touched noses with him. After crawling into Jack's lap, he was treated to a cool hand gently stroking his back therapeutically. Jack became lost in the soothing actions and zoned out, eventually falling asleep, unaware that his new friend had decided to take a nap with him.

* * *

"Where is Jack? He should be here." North paced the floor. It was the bi-monthly Guardian meeting to ensure everything was running smoothly. The meetings were a recent addition, breaking the monotony of the months. North insisted they were important and called them "essential new thing to make sure Pitch does not return and nothing harms the children of the world".

Jack just called it "Family Time" or "North's Bi-Monthly Excuse to Have a Party".

"Calm down mate. Frostbite's probably on 'is way and got caught up in some mischief. You know how he is." Bunny was relaxing by the fire, warming his paws after the dash through the snow. North still refused to let him connect his tunnels straight to the Workshop. Sandy nodded his agreement after taking a swig of eggnog. It wasn't uncommon for Jack to the last Guardian to arrive.

"Hey guys! What'd I miss?" The topic of the conversation flitted into the room, neatly dodging Tooth's attempt to see into his mouth and stopped next to Sandy. Jack refused the offered eggnog. He knew what the Elves did (hell, he helped them half the time!) and he had no idea if that was a contaminated batch.

"Hello Jack. How's everything… Jack?" Tooth began but paused at the sight of a fluffy head poking out of Jack hood.

"Hmm. What's wrong Tooth?" The other Guardians stared at Jack as well.

"What's that?"

Jack turned his head and came nose to face with a rather disgruntled looking Arctic Hare he'd been napping with earlier. "Oh. So that's why my hood was heavy. I wondered where he'd gotten too." He gently lifted the buck out of his hood and sat in front of the fire place with the buck in his lap. Gently scratching the hare's ears led to a faint purr and forgiveness from the arctic creature. The other Guardians watched for a few moments.

"Frostbite, what tha bloody hell is a rabbit doin' in yer hood?" Bunny asked, "How'd ya even manage to get it in there in tha first place?"

Jack shrugged, "Nature Spirits have this pull on all animals. Because I'm a Winter Spirit, arctic animal are drawn to me." A white hand slipped under the buck's chin and the purring increased in volume. The buck looked perfectly at ease in the Guardian of Fun's lap and relaxed happily. "Don't worry, Cottontail. I'll take him back once the meeting's over."

The rest of the meeting continued with any more interruptions.

* * *

A week after the meeting, Bunny was becoming more stressed about Easter. Ever since the Pitch's desecration of the Easter prior to the one just passed, Bunny had been driving himself to breaking point. He was determined to erase that Easter from the minds of the children. It was only during the Bi-monthly meetings that Bunny took a break. The stress was taking its toll on Bunny. He was becoming thinner and more tired every day. He was ahead of his schedule by far but Bunny's mental state was slowly deteriorating.

The other Guardians had failed to notice Bunny's increasing stress-induced state due to their own busy schedule and Bunny's own efforts to keep it from them. What Bunny did not realise was that Jack was an expert in Rabbit Body language and had long picked up on the Pooka's swelling anxiety levels.

And Jack had finally decided enough was enough. Bunny would be taking a break, _a proper break_, whether he wanted to or not.

Sneaking into the Warren was the easy part. Finding the Australian Rabbit was a little harder. The hardest part would be getting Bunny to relax, but Jack had a plan that relied on his intimate knowledge of rabbit behaviour.

Bunny was in the midst of a painting frenzy. He was experimenting with different colours, textures, patterns and his mindset reduced to more yellow, purple swirl here, bluespot, pinkundercoat,whitestripebluestreak_mustbebetterand….oh…that felt good._

Cold hands, just a few degrees cooler than a human, was gently stroking Bunny's head and neck. Bunny dropped the egg he was hold gently and it was shooed away with its brethren by a second cold hand. The two hands gently smoothed down the ruffled fur on his head, slowly making its way down his back. The hands continued their work through Bunny's thick ruff and started grooming the slightly matted fur, gently working out the tangles and other foreign material that had made its way into the fur.

"Bunny, you're going to drive yourself insane. Easter had been and gone. You did great, but you need to relax. Just relax for a bit. You have months until the next one. You can relax." Whispered a voice soothingly into his ear. Bunny slumped to the ground. In the back of his mind, he recognised the owner of the voice and he wondered where the hell Jack had learnt how to do this. He rumbled deep in his throat.

The rest of him didn't particularly care. All he wanted to do curl up and let those cool hands do their work.

Jack smiled softly at the compliant Pooka that was obviously fighting the urge to crawl into his lap. Bunny was obviously a bit further gone than he thought, but he wouldn't hold it against him. Bunny needed this and Jack was willing to provide. That thought was interrupted by a grey muzzle stubbornly snuggling into Jack's stomach.

A full twenty minutes later, Bunny was a relax pile of Pooka goo in Jack's lap. "Feeling better, cottontail?"

"Yea', thanks fer that." Bunny sleepily raised his head and licked Jack's cheek, leaving a blush to take residence on the pale skin. Bunny's head dropped back down and soft snores echoed across the Warren.

Jack looked down at the sleeping rabbit. "No worries, Bunny, no worries."

* * *

**Yep, I blame many different people for the JackRabbit binge I am currently on. Welcome to the Insanity. If you'd like to take a seat next to the Mad Hatter, we can begin our journey into further maddness.**

**If anyone wants to write a sequel to any of my oneshots; they are welcome to have a shot at it. All I ask is some warning before you do. **

_**Jack and His Baby**_** will be updated by Saturday at the latest. That I promise.**


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